Expert Panel Links Portugal's Severe Wildfire Problem to Fragmented Land Ownership and Lack of Economic Value
A leading Portuguese climate change expert, Filipe Duarte Santos, has asserted that while changing weather patterns contribute to the severity of wildfires, the core of Portugal's recurring fire crisis is rooted in human activity and a deeply flawed system of land tenure. Speaking to the Lusa news agency amidst a series of large-scale blazes, Santos, who presides over the National Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development, emphasized that ignitions, the vast majority of which are of human origin, are the trigger for these disasters, even if climate change creates more favorable conditions for them to spread.
Santos pointed out that Portugal's situation is a significant outlier within the European Union. Citing data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), he noted that from 2006 to 2024, Portugal lost an average of 1.05% of its continental territory to fire each year. This figure is nearly three times higher than that of Greece, the second most affected country, at 0.38%. According to Santos, this disproportionate impact cannot be explained by meteorological factors alone. The underlying cause, he suggests, is the "enormous fragmentation" of rural and forest property across the nation.
A government working group previously established to study the issue concluded that Portugal contains approximately 10.5 million individual rustic properties. In the central regions of the country, a hotspot for major fires, the average property size is a mere 0.6 hectares. This extreme parcellation of land makes effective and economic forest management nearly impossible. The problem is further compounded by complex ownership structures. Santos highlighted that around 30% of these properties are part of undivided inheritances, with legal heirs often living abroad in countries like Brazil, France, or the UK, and frequently unaware of or unable to manage their small land holdings.
This structural issue, Santos argues, effectively strips the land of its economic value. "While we do not give economic value to rustic property in Portugal, which would most likely require land consolidation, this is what will continue to happen," he warned. The result is the widespread abandonment of land, which quickly becomes overgrown with unmanaged scrub and forest biomass. These neglected plots provide a continuous and abundant fuel source for fires. "These parcels with forest, or with scrubland, are practically abandoned, and something that is abandoned has no value," Santos stated, framing the issue as one of economic viability directly linked to environmental security.
The expert's analysis suggests that technical solutions for firefighting, while important, will not solve the fundamental problem. The proposed solution is a policy of "emparcelamento," or land consolidation, a complex and politically sensitive process of restructuring land holdings to create larger, economically viable parcels. Such a reform would aim to incentivize active and sustainable management of forest resources, thereby reducing fire risk. This perspective shifts the focus of the wildfire debate from a purely environmental or climatic issue to one of land reform and rural economic policy, presenting a significant long-term challenge for the Portuguese government.
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